Ukrainians Accumulate 164K New Debts in 2025 - Odesa Region Leads

Ukrainians have accumulated more than one hundred thousand new debts, in particular due to traffic fines and administrative offenses. Among the southern regions, Odesa region recorded the highest number of debts, followed by Mykolaiv region, and Kherson region. Almost 75% of debts are owed by men.

According to the data of the monitoring service Opendatabot, from December 2024 to March 2025, Ukrainians accumulated more than 164 thousand new debts, which happened during the restoration of the Unified Register of Debtors after its hacking.

Debts related to special confiscation, recovery of property under an enforcement document, and paid seizure of an instrument of an offense have increased the most.

The Unified Register of Debtors now contains more than 9 million debts. The number of proceedings increased by 1.9% (164,304 proceedings) since the last update of the Register in December 2024. For comparison, the register grew by 4.2% over the previous six months.

During this period, debts due to special confiscation - the recovery of property by court decision in criminal cases where compensation for the value of the property is not provided - increased by 14%. In addition, there was a 7% increase in paid seizures of items that were used as an instrument of an offense or its object. The recovery of property under an enforcement document also increased by 9%.

In general, most Ukrainians are included in the register due to unpaid fines for traffic violations - 1.9 million cases (21.4% of the total). Debts for administrative offenses account for 20% - more than 1.8 million, and penalties in favor of the state budget - 18%, or 1.6 million.

Almost 75% of all debts are owed by men.

The main reasons for Ukrainians' debts:

• Documents that do not fall into the above categories - 1,951,955 (21.6%)
• Traffic fines - 1,930,525 (21.4%)
• Administrative offenses - 1,838,216 (20.4%)
• Collections in favor of the budget - 1,648,944 (18.3%)
• Debts for utilities - 746,338 (8.3%)
• Court fees - 547,502 (6.1%)
• Alimony - 206,816 (2.3%)
• Other - 155,288 (1.7%)

Most debts are registered in Dnipropetrovska oblast - 973,185 proceedings (11% of the total), followed by Kyiv - 633,286 debts (7%), and Kharkiv oblast - 620,211 (7%).

Significant debts are also owed by residents of Odesa region (525,210), Mykolaiv region (298,349), and Kherson region (205,417).

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the number of debts for unpaid traffic fines has increased 2.4 times. According to the Unified Register of Debtors, 735,000 new fines were recorded last year alone, of which 37% have not yet been paid, bringing the total number of fines to 1.8 million by the end of the year.

In 2023, condominiums filed a record 1.4 thousand lawsuits for non-payment of utility bills. In 2024, the number of lawsuits did not decrease, and by the end of the year, the courts had already considered 3.6 thousand cases of arrears. In Odesa region, 547 cases were filed, and in Mykolaiv region - 136. According to the law, the debt of each apartment owner is his or her personal responsibility and cannot be distributed among other tenants.

Анна Бальчінос